Dutch Railways will Abandon High Speed Train

The Dutch Railways announced that they will abandon the

high speed Fyra trains. After a short period of operation, too many problems were discovered and the service was stopped. After testing, it now turns out that the quality of finishing the trains was insufficient. Each train had been finished in a different way. The expected life of a train contractually defined as 30 years, will be much shorter due to wear and tear. There has already been corrosion with the new trains. And a low tension installation has been poorly designed. Also, during the testing, there were incidents with bad batteries. The conclusion of the Dutch Railways is that even an extensive recovery program and preventive maintenance could not assure proper functioning of the trains. Full operation of the trains, in the best case, is not guaranteed before 2018.

www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3451969/2013/06/03/Nederlandse-Spoorwegen-stoppen-per-direct-met-Fyra.dhtml

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Kuwait Now Controls Mosque in Amsterdam

Kuwait has taken power in the Blue Mosque of the Slotervaart neighborhood in Amsterdam. The Chairman of the trust which operates the mosque is now Mutlaq Alqarawi. He is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and is an Assistant Under-Secretary in the Kuwaiti government. In a recent meeting, Alqarawi promoted missionary activity to convert people in the Netherlands. He added that the community should be devoted to “Dawah.”

www.parool.nl/parool/nl/224/BINNENLAND/article/detail/3447180/2013/05/25/Koeweit-aan-de-macht-in-buurtmoskee-Slotervaart.dhtml

One-Legged Soccer Players International Match Stopped due to Massive Violence

The first international match between one-legged soccer players from Belgium and the Netherlands had to be stopped in the middle. At one point the players started beating each other up. Thereafter, spectators also participated in the fight and complete chaos resulted at the stadium of Westerlo in Belgium.

www.powned.tv/nieuws/sport/2013/06/eenbenige_voetballers_op_de_vu.html

Police Arrive too Late in Response to Emergency Calls in 174 Municipalities

The police have published that policemen in 174 municipalities often take too long to respond to emergency calls. The norm is that police have to arrive within a quarter of an hour after receiving emergency calls in 90% of cases. Deputy Minister Teeven, Security and Justice promised last year that this standard would be met everywhere in the country. Yet, in 40 municipalities, the police arrived too late in more than 20% of the cases. The police state that on a national basis, in 92.4% of emergency cases, they arrived within a quarter of an hour. Yet in three regions, the norms were not met.
www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3451079/2013/06/01/Politie-komt-in-174-gemeenten-te-vaak-te-laat.dhtml

Deputy Minister Harshly Threatened

Deputy Minister of Security and Justice Fred Teeven, (Liberals) has been harshly threatened. The threats are most probably from pro-asylum activists and have increased since the death of Russian asylum seeker Alexandr Dolmatov and the discussion about the criminality of those who are in the Netherlands illegally. Teeven is being personally guarded and there is also increased security at his house in Amsterdam.

www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/11698/Kabinet-Rutte-II/article/detail/3452275/2013/06/04/Staatssecretaris-Teeven-ernstig-bedreigd.dhtml

Hate Graffiti on Home of Director of Immigration Authority

Hate graffiti was sprayed on the home of the Director of the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Office (IND), Rob van Lint. The graffiti said that “IND = Murder.” The action group which claims responsibility for this, said in an open letter to Van Lint that he will not rest as long as he remains Director of this office. Deputy Minister of Security and Justice, Fred Teeven expressed his horror at this intimidating action. He considers it a severe attack on the private sphere of an official who does his work. The police are investigating.
www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3451298/2013/06/02/Huis-IND-directeur-beklad.dhtml

Journalist: Dutch Marines Executed Train Hijackers in 1977

A new study by freelance journalist Jan Bekkers came to radically diverse conclusions from the official version about the death of South Moluccan hijackers who commandeered a Dutch train near De Punt on 11 June 1977. This official version claims that all killed hijackers died in the fire on the train which preceded the soldiers’ attack. Bekkers says that 3 or possibly 4 hijackers were still living and were executed without trial by the Marines. He also claims that hostage Rien van Baarsel was not killed by a hijacker’s weapon, but was hit by Marine fire. 

www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3450943/2013/06/01/Treinkapers-De-Punt-werden-geliquideerd.dhtml